Vague memories of London in 1970.

[Professor Tom]

When I got there Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime and Free's Allright Now were flying high, Coca Cola was bought warm from shops and Virgin Records had just opened their shop in Notting Hill Gate where you could sit on piles of cushions and listen to music and they dished out free concert tickets after 5.30pm if they hadn't been sold.

Ladbroke Grove was a {censored}ty place to live but I wouldn't have missed it for the world except for the Drug Squad, known amongst the local freaks as the 'Allo 'Allo 'Allo Show. Once you had been busted you had to move out and find a new place to live, it was over for your ass in the old place.

Local bands like the Pink Fairies, The Ladboke Grove Pig{censored}ers and the Blackheath Foot & Deathmen played under the flyover at the top end of Portobello on Saturday afternoons and as for pubs either you were a Finches or a Hennekeys regular. Lemmy and the rest of the Hawkwind crew favoured Hennekeys.

As a footnote csm had contributed to OZ 28 whilst still an innocent schoolboy if I remember correctly.

Good times.

[iron chicken]

" Good times "......and not one's that are likely to return.

You're a lucky man to have the balls to up sticks and move south when you did. London must still have been a pretty amazing place in the early 1970's. Unfortunately, I was still in school in Glasgow back then.

My first job took me to London for about 3 months in late '77 early '78. All I really saw of the place was the Shaftsbury Avenue area, where they put me up in a hotel, and WimbeldonMorden area where I was working. What I do remember is that the place was pretty run down, I'm sure that the Wimbledon Courts were surrounded with rusty corrugated iron. I never did see that many punks, which if you read SoundsNME at the time, came as a bit of a suprise.

When you get to a certain age you sometimes wonder if you have indeed inherited that pair of rose tinted specs. Then it occurs to you, not only were some things better back then, but possibly more importantly, you were once young.

[Professor Tom]

Once young yes, a long time ago but in the days when women were a lot more accomodating. Shaftesbury Avenue was always grubby but it was just a route down into Gerrard Street before the days it was known for Chinese food. Nuff said.

[Lucio]

and WimbeldonMorden area where I was working. What I do remember is that the place was pretty run down

Still is mate

[iron chicken]

Still is mate

Haven't been there in 30 years, and the company I used to work for are long gone from that area as well.

I take it that the well documented " trickle down effect " from having all those rich city types spending loadsacash, isn't really having an impact outwith restaurants, bars, clubs and house prices.

What a suprise.

[3red]

was there lots of wool? i associate london in 1970 with very thick batted wool

[Professor Tom]

was there lots of wool? i associate london in 1970 with very thick batted wool

 

 

Yeah, you're right, girls used to wear those ankle length cardigans with wooly hats and {censored}, whereas the guys all wore velvet loons (flaired trousers) From Kensington Market, Indian thin cotton shirts and Indian sandals even in {censored}in' February and this ensenble was topped of with ex-army coats that weighed about 50 lbs weight. We were poor because rent, acid and hash cost money even in those days. Hash was

[Lucio]

Hash was